Paul Townend hopes to land Punchestown double with Galopin Des Champs and Appreciate It
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With the meeting at Navan called off because of a frozen track, Paul Townend has just two rides on Sunday, although he could make a dash to Cork if Punchestown fails a midday inspection on Saturday.
Believe it or not, I have picked Galopin Des Champs over Haut En Couleurs and Stattler in the John Durkan! We all know he is a really exciting horse. Last year he was exceptional bar the one blip at Cheltenham. Hopefully, he can make a Gold Cup horse this year and this is the ideal place to start back over 2½ miles.
It’s not going to be a walk in the park. Fakir D’oudairies is a good horse. French Dynamite is fit. Fury Road was a good staying novice last year and came back with a win at Down Royal this year. Stattler was a Cheltenham Festival winner, but Haut En Couleurs was disappointing last year. This is Galopin Des Champs’ first step out in novice company but anything bar a win here would be very disappointing.
He only had the one run last year in the Champion Hurdle. He more or less missed the season. The Supreme Novice winner from the year before has taken to jumping fences at home really well, anyway, and I think he can be a top-level novice chaser this year. He has a huge amount of talent and I will be hoping my two rides can land their respective races.
It is disappointing that the John Durkan and Hilly Way clash like this. I think it is arranged that they don’t clash next year. Sean O’Keeffe gets the lucky spin on him at Cork. He won there last year and he is by far the highest rated runner in the race. It will be nice to see him back on the track and hopefully himself and Sean get on well again and get plenty of luck.
I will be watching the race closely. It is a nice place to start him and hopefully all roads lead to the Champion Chase again. If Punchestown was called off, I would do my best to go down there for the ride. I suppose I know how good Energumene is, so I just want to find out as much about Galopin Des Champs as I can.
